


Never His To Lose

by koalathebear



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Related, F/M, Manpain, Non-Canon Relationship, Older Man/Younger Woman, Porn, Porn With Plot, Pre-Movie, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-25
Packaged: 2017-12-24 12:26:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/939997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I really LOVE the character of Hercules Hansen.  He's heroic, he's hot - he's also a totally down to earth, decent, good-guy.  I love the good ol' Aussie trope and Herc hits that nail squarely on the head, despite Herc being a pretty un-Aussie name.  I think that Herc's absolutely wonderful as a secondary character, so even though I totally, totally adore the Raleigh/Mako pairing, I decided that I just HAD to write a Herc/Mako story.</p><p>I've woven my story into text from "Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelisation" by Alexander Irvine.  Hopefully it works ...  As I also love Raleigh/Mako, they're in there, too.  There's smut in here and it's explicit.  It's not till Chapter 2 though.  Chapter 1 has an under-aged kiss but that's it.  Anyway, I know I'm kind of weird for this pairing but I am what I am ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Encounter

The first time Herc Hansen meets Mako Mori, it's 2021 – the ninth year of the Kaiju War. Mori is 16 and it's her first year at the Jaeger Academy at Kodiak Island in Alaska. Hansen is 41 at the time, an experienced and respected Jaeger pilot who has already been with the Jaeger Programme for six years. Assigned to the Australia Shatterdome in Sydney, he's visiting Anchorage at the request of Marshall Pentecost to provide a debrief on his recent Kaiju encounters. 

The pilot of the second Australian Jaeger, Striker Eureka, Hansen has started piloting with his son Charles Hansen, who has recently decided to style himself as 'Chuck' – American style. This leaves his father, who is about as Aussie as they come, completely speechless with disgust.

What Australian in his right mind would ever call himself Chuck?

Piloting together is a challenging experience for both of them. Raised in the cockpit, Chuck is a gifted and brilliant pilot like Herc – but lately, the neural handshake and the Drift compatibility between the two seem to be the only connection in an otherwise damaged and precarious father-son relationship.

Raising a child as a single parent was a daunting endeavour at the best of times, but doing it amidst a war that may bring about the annihilation of the human race has been even more difficult. As a result, Chuck treads in Herc's footsteps while at the same time wanting to rebel against his father. 

Herc knows this because there can be no secrets between co-pilots. In the Drift, everything is exposed and laid bare … Chuck sees his father's doubt and guilt about his mother. The unanswered questions and the possible betrayal. In turn, Herc sees his son's condemnation, grief and feelings of resentment. 

They are able to put aside their personal feelings while in the Conn-Pod. While they're battling the kaiju, they are a formidable combatant, an almost unbeatable team. The Hansen family is fearless and strong and their bravery has become the stuff of legends. Off the battlefield though, their words are brief, unexpansive and the only shared warmth and tenderness is that given to their dog Max. Lately, when not Drifting, Herc and Chuck seem to have taken to communicating via Max. All the love that they seem unable to show one other – they're able to show the bloody dog. It's a damned farce.

Even Max himself is an act of filial rebellion. If consulted, Herc would have opted for a cattle dog, a Kelpie or some hardy bitza from the pound – all good, solid, Aussie dogs. For reasons known only to him, Chuck picks a slavering, slobbering bulldog with an overgrown family tree and an equally overgrown jaw. It doesn't mean that Herc loves Max any less, it just pisses him off that every gesture from his son has to be a bloody big fuck you in flashing lights.

The Jaeger Programme has suffered devastating losses in recent years – not the least of which was the death of young Yancy Becket, killed in battle against Knifehead at Anchorage and the dismissal of his brother Raleigh Becket from the Pan Pacific Defence Corps. Thus, despite continued Kaiju attacks on the world's cities, the United Nations has started cutting funds to the Jaeger Programme. With the programme in crisis, Pentecost has summoned Herc and a number of other veterans to Kodiak Island to discuss strategies for the way forward. 

Foolishly, the politicians are pinning all their hopes on a hair-brained scheme known as the 'Wall of Life' and much needed funds are now being directed from the Jaeger Programme towards the construction of the Anti-Kaiju Wall. 

The Anchorage meeting does not end on a hopeful note and Herc has known Pentecost long enough to know that despite Pentecost's impassive expression, the man is making contingency plans as he prepares for the worst.  
Herc is a soldier and a fighter, not a politician, so all he can do is offer Pentecost his full support for whatever solution he is able to formulate.

At Pentecost's request, he stays in Anchorage a few days longer to assist with the latest crop of recruits. Cross-pollination of ideas, strategies and training techniques are necessary to ensure that the recruits are fully equipped for what lies ahead. With that in mind, Herc goes to the kwoon where the recruits are engaged in intensive mixed martial arts training.

His attention immediately goes to the young Japanese girl standing barefoot on the mat, face flushed and eyes shuttered. He hasn't met her before, but he knows she is. Mako Mori, Pentecost's daughter – adopted from the ashes of Tokyo following the attack by Onibaba. 

Herc had always been bemused by the decision of Pentecost to voluntarily take on the burden of raising a young child despite his commitments to the Jaeger Programme but he finds himself impressed at the steely determination in young Mako Mori's eyes. He senses a fire in her belly and a feistiness that make her a born fighter.

Like the rest of the recruits, the young girl is wearing black cargo pants and a black tank top. Her face is bare of make-up and her face is serious, her full mouth pressed firmly together in concentration as she waits for her next opponent. Her long, glossy black hair is in two tight braids which she has coiled around her head. 

She's not the only female in the class. While the class is predominantly male, there are a handful of females in the group, also waiting their turn at the sidelines. The Jaeger Academy takes in recruits from all over the world, so the group is ethnically diverse and ages also vary. Herc himself only entered the Academy at 35 – it seems like a life time away as he watches the young Mori defeat yet another cadet who is twice her size. Though she is small and slender, she is swift and strong and the larger and heavier cadets simply can't keep up with her agility.

"Very textbook, Miss Mori," he calls out from the sidelines where he is standing, arms crossed and watching intently. His drawling, laid-back voice sounds drawled and relaxed amidst the babble of other more frantic accents.

Mako turns her head and looks at him curiously. "Is that good or bad?" she wants to know. She still has a very thick Japanese accent despite her years with Pentecost. She has spent too much of her life travelling from country to country, speaking with people from many different countries to have picked up an American accent. 

Her eyes are earnest and inquiring. It's clear that Mako is a perfectionist. Probably a conscientious nerd, too given who her father is. 

Herc leans down, unlaces his boots and pulls off his jacket and shirt before making his way onto the mat, barefoot and smiling. 

Mako is extremely conscious of the tall, leanly muscled Australian who is approaching her. He is one of the revered heroes of the Kaiju War. He's not flashy and attention-grabbing like some of the pilots. There is no arrogance or conceit about him. Rather, he is a determined, fearless and successful Ranger who has saved countless lives since joining the Jaeger Programme during the early years of the war. His natural humility and good-humour have made him extremely popular. His extraordinary good-looks have given him sex symbol status.

Tall with closely cropped hair and a short beard, his eyes are a bright, piercing blue. His short hair looks brown at first, but the sunlight streaming into the kwoon shows her that it has a distinct reddish tinge through it, as does his beard. She wonders why he chooses to have a beard – his features are clean and chiselled, almost beautiful in their perfection. He wears a white undershirt and she can see that like most Rangers, he is lean and well-muscled without being overly big and bulky. The scars on his muscled arms enhance rather than detract from his attractiveness.

"Good if you're likely to fight a textbook," he drawls teasingly and she flinches, aware that she is being criticised, however gently.

" _Hajime_ ," he says courteously and allows her to attack first. She is an excellent fighter and he observes her fighting technique with an almost dispassionate air. Pentecost has taught her very well, he would expect no less. Herc would recognise some of those moves anywhere. He admires her grace and speed, among other things.

He can sense her frustration though when she fails to break through, when she realises that he is just allowing her to demonstrate her kicks and punches, drawing her out and guiding her. That he's just playing with her.

"What you're missing is a bit of larrikinism, Miss Mori. A bit of delinquency. This clinical fighting style is all very well, but just imagine you're having a massive blue in a pub at the back of beyond."

"Blue? Pup?" she demands, her brow creasing in confusion.

"Pub," he corrects her. "It's like a bar … Blue is a fight," he tells her.

"You mean I should fight dirty?" she asks bluntly and he laughs despite himself.

"I guess that's one way of putting it," and then he lets out an _oof_ of pained astonishment when she kicks him in the stomach soundly and then proceeds to knee him in the balls – fortunately he's ready for that and manages to block her before she can do any damage to the more vulnerable parts of his anatomy. 

"Should I poke out your eyes as well?" she asks him politely and he shakes his head.

"You’ve made your point," he says and allows himself to fight her properly, critiquing each move and smiling when she uses scrappier, messier and more ruthless moves that wouldn't be out of place in a pub brawl in Australia after a favourite football team has lost a match...

When they finish, he's proclaimed the winner by the instructor – but not by much. They bow respectfully and Herc is smiling when she leaves the mat. 

Another student makes his way onto the mat for his turn with Herc and Mako is standing at the edge, rocking back on the balls of her feet, watching him intently as he starts assessing the next cadet. Her face is flushed, tendrils of hair falling about her face and he is aware that she can't take her eyes off of him. He finds it distracting and unsettlingly arousing at the same time.

Later that day, he meets her again when they're both leaving the mess hall after lunch. "Sergeant Hansen," she greets him respectfully even though it is simply a reference to his original Australian Air Force rank. Ranks in the PPDC are somewhat looser and much more egalitarian. Despite his years of experience and Kaiju kills, he's simply a Ranger like all the other pilots.

"Miss Mori," he greets her politely.

"You return to Australia tomorrow?" she asks him, as she walks beside him in the corridor, staring up at him with her large dark eyes.

"Yeah, my son and I have some combat exercises to do before our next deployment." Positioned as they are in Sydney, they have broad coverage to many of the Pacific locations being attacked by the kaiju and it is imperative that the two are constantly at their best.

"Your son is 18 now?" she asks him.

"Yeah. Damned good pilot," Herc says with pride. "Bloody pain in the ass though with shit for brains when following orders though," Herc mutters. Mako blinks at the Australian's sudden broadening in his accent when he speaks of his son.

"He's very lucky to be permitted to pilot Striker Eureka – a Mark-5 series Jaeger." Her voice is filled with admiration and awe.

Herc grins. Striker Eureka is the strongest Jaeger, the Australian division of the Pan Pacific Defence Corps having invested more than $100 billion into the creation of Striker.

"Striker's good value," he agrees. "Fast, strong – born to kick Kaiju ass. I take it you want to be a pilot, too."

"I want to be, more than anything else in the world," she tells him fiercely. 

"I'm guessing that your old man might have a thing or two to say about that," Herc observes, sympathy in his voice as his blue eyes rest on her eager young face.

"What did your son need to do to persuade you to let him be a pilot?" Mako wants to know and Herc's smile is twisted and bittersweet.

"Chuck does what he wants – always has," Herc tells her ruefully. "Mind of his own …"

"Like father like son?" she asks curiously.

"Don't even go there," Herc mutters, stuffing his hands into his pockets and scowling at the ground as he walks.

Herc doesn't even know where he's walking at this point and looks around in bemusement to find that they've reached the end of the corridor and are standing in front of a closed door. Mako reaches out and opens it and they walk into an empty classroom, whiteboard and screen at the front, raised seats facing the front.

Herc looks around and pulls a face. "Great. It still looks the same," he remarks, dropping himself into one of the seats while Mako stands in the aisle in the darkness. "Always hated school – can't believe I was back swotting books at the ripe old age of 35 when I went to the Academy," he tells her.

"This is where we study Kaiju science," she tells him.

"Is that your favourite class?" he asks her, interested in knowing more about her. He doesn't ask himself why he wants to know her better.

"No. I prefer engineering … and fighting," she tells him earnestly.

"Interesting combination," he observes.

"The Kaiju killed my family. I want to kill them," she tells him simply. "All of them." The rage of a quiet man was always terrifying and the rage and determination of this quiet young girl was equally frightening. It makes her seem much older than her years.

"Seems fair," he agrees. "If you want something – you've gotta just go out there and get it, despite all the shit that gets in the way," he tells her.

"Is that what you do, sergeant?" she asks him suddenly. 

He is aware that she has come to stand before him and is standing between his parted knees as he sits in the darkened classroom.

He clears his throat slightly, shifting a little in the seat, aware that it's probably not entirely appropriate for him to be sitting in this room alone with Pentecost's young daughter. A girl with lovely, dark eyes and a ripe luscious mouth that makes his body tighten and his mind think thoughts that he should not be thinking.

"Do _you_ take whatever you want?" she asks him directly. She steps closer, her face curious as she reaches a fingertip out to touch his short beard. He closes his eyes, willing himself not to respond. _She's a child, albeit precocious. She's Pentecost's daughter for God's sake._

"Your beard is also red ..." she observes with almost clinical interest, studying the colour closely.

"Yeah, well I'm a Ranga through and through," he tells her. "Goes hand in hand with the temper and the freckles."

"So it's true that people with red hair get angry more easily?" she asks him, her fingertips continuing to trail down his beard and then slide into his hair.

"Mako, this really isn't a good idea," he says in a voice that is not entirely steady.

"I thought you said when you want something, you go out and get it," she tells him, head tilting slightly. She leans forward and her mouth brushes against his lightly. He closes his eyes for a second, allowing his lips to part as their tongues brush and the kiss deepens. Her soft mouth is awkward and clumsy, this is clearly her first kiss and his strong hands come up despite himself to cup her head and hold her steady as he shows her how to deepen the kiss, how to taste and savour. She is a very quick learner and after only seconds, he's the one almost gasping with desire, wanting to crush her against him and teach her even more things that he shouldn't.

Her mouth is red, her breathing ragged when she finally draws back and stares into his face. 

"You know this can't happen," he mutters. 

He imagines Pentecost slowly pulling him apart limb from limb before throwing him to the next Kaiju that rears its ugly head out of the Breach but as Mako's soft mouth covers his again, he doesn't care and all he can do is marvel that he hasn't felt this good or this aroused in a very, very long time.

Finally, he draws back and rises to his feet, his mouth tight, his body aroused and tense. He stares down at her flushed face and brushes a tendril of hair from her face.

"Goodbye, love," he tells her, regret and longing in his blue eyes and then he leaves the classroom and Mako sits there in the darkness, lips tingling and body on fire for the first time in her life.


	2. Second Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one has the!sex in it. Please don't read if you're under-aged or you don't like reading that sort of thing. You've been warned.

The second time Herc Hanson meets Mako Mori is in 2024 at the Sydney Shatterdome. Since their first encounter, Striker Eureka has proved itself to be an impressively formidable Jaeger, killing Ceramander in Hawaii, Spinejacket in Melbourne, Insurrector in Los Angeles, Taurax in Mindanao, Philippines, Bonesquid at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and Hound in Auckland, New Zealand. No other Jaeger has been able to achieve such a level of success and stories of the Hansens' bravery and combat prowess increase as each day passes.

Despite this, the United Nations is still favouring the Anti-Kaiju Wall as a means of defence.

In 2024, Herc learns that a 19 year old Mako Mori has been placed in charge of the Mark 3 Reconstruction Project at the Anchorage Shatterdome and is informed that she will be making a visit to Sydney to inspect Striker Eureka as part of the research needed for upgrades to Gipsy Danger, which was removed from Oblivion Bay in 2023 in preparation for update.

Herc is waiting for Mako when she arrives in Sydney, a lazy smile of pleasure and welcome curving his firm mouth. She walks down the steps of the plane, a slim, straight lonely, figure and she sees him immediately. She walks towards him and ignores his offer to take her bags from her.

He hands her a small stuffed koala which she looks at with almost childish delight. "Welcome to Sydney," he drawls. "You've cut your hair – looking snazzy," he remarks, staring at the sleek black bob that frames her almost severe face. Her face has become narrower as she has matured, her large dark eyes enhanced with cosmetics and her full mouth now painted dark red. There's no doubt that she's a woman now and she meets his gaze calmly and unflinchingly.

He also looks very, very good. He's as lean and rugged as he ever was, deeply tanned. He is the quintessence of masculinity and athleticism and his firm, sensual mouth is curved in a smile that says he's pleased to see her. She has seen his face splashed on countless magazine covers but he's even better looking in person.

"The blue is nice," he comments, reaching out to touch the deep blue tips in the hair that frames her face. "Act of rebellion?" he asks her curiously.

She shakes her head. "Blue was my favourite colour before the Kaiju came," she tells him. There is a flicker of something in her dark eyes.

He touches her hair again. "And now you're taking Blue back," he says with a smile. She turns her head slightly so that her cheek rests in the palm of his hand. He allows his fingers to linger for a moment before pulling his hand away from her. The mutual tug of attraction is still strong and it's going to get him into a world of trouble if he doesn't watch out.

"You know that in Australia we sometimes call redheads, 'Blue', don't you?"

"No – you told me it was 'Ranga'."

"We gingers have a few names," he tells her with a smile.

He walks her to her room where she drops off her bag before walking with him through the Sydney Shatterdome. 

"So, talk to me," he prompts her.

"We're restoring Gipsy Danger. Solid iron hull, no alloys. Forty engine blocks per muscle strand. Hyper-torque drivers in every limb and a new fluid synapse system."

"Nice," he remarks. 

"We're replacing her old nuclear vortex turbine – putting new shielding inside the reactor compartment, the outside of the reactor housing itself, and the internal cylinder of the vortex turbine."

"About time. I guess a little too late for Tamsin and the Marshall," Herc says seriously. Herc has no doubt that one day they're going to tell him that his body can't take the radiation anymore. Till then, he'll keep taking his Metharocin and rely on the scientists and egg heads to keep him safe so that he can do his job.

"Yes. _Sensei_ can never pilot a Jaeger again, much to his sadness," Mako says softly.

"And what about you – I thought you'd be in a Jaeger by now."  
Mako shrugs and lowers her head, as if in shame. "Putting me in charge of restoring Gipsy Danger is the Marshall's way of trying to distract me. I think he thinks that I will be so busy that I won't ask him to pilot her."

"Who's the Marshall intending on piloting her, then?" he asks curiously as he leads her into the heart of the Dome, a massive building more than five hundred feet high at its peak.

From a central staging area, tracks radiate out to the Jaeger bays that are tall enough to accommodate the huge robots and framed with catwalks and platforms allowing access to any part of a Jaeger from any angle.

A further spoke leads to the ramp a deploying Jaeger took to the ocean doors. Outside the ocean doors is a staging pad where Jumphawk helicopters can hook up a waiting Jaeger and fly it to its drop point.

The spaces outside the marked spokes and their conveyor platform tracks are a tangle of equipment, spare parts, and work crews. It looks just like all the other Shatterdomes that Mako has been to before and it's like home to her, child of the Rangers that she is. She grew up with these smells and sounds – this chaos.

She looks up at the Sydney LOCCENT, the Shatterdome’s nerve centre with its wall-to-wall monitors, holodisplays, and workstations – it's one of the world's busiest given the number of kaiju emerging from the Breach that year.  
They arrive at the Jaeger bay for Striker Eureka and Herc accompanies her as she is given a detailed tour by engineers, technicians and scientists.

She tells him that the Marshall is looking for Raleigh Becket, who vanished after being dismissed five years earlier.

"Becket's a good kid – damned fine pilot … but he's probably half bonkers now given what happened before to him and his brother," Herc comments. 

The death of Yancy Becket had been tragic, resonating with anyone who had ever piloted a Jaeger, all empathising with the loss that Raleigh must have suffered.

"We think he is somewhere in Alaska. We have heard that he is working on the Wall of Life," Mako tells him.

"Wall of useless frigging bullshit, more like it," he mutters. "Why Becket? There must be more Rangers than you can poke a stick at who'd want a chance to pilot Gipsy."

"Raleigh Becket is the last of the Mark 3 pilots – the rest are dead," Mako tells him bluntly. She has a smudge of oil on her face. It's endearing so he doesn't tell her about it. It makes her stern face look a little vulnerable. He contemplates wiping it off her face later … when they're alone. He shuts that thought down. He's thought of her often over the years, seeing emails and memos from her, following her promising career in the Jaeger Programme. Now that she's here with him, it's hard not to let his thoughts stray to things forbidden.

"You know we're reaching the end of the line, don't you?" he asks her evenly.

Mako nods slowly, allow him to help her down from a walkway. His large, strong hands grip her hips as he lifts her down easily, his touch lingering longer than necessary even after she is on the ground. 

"Funding will be gone soon," she tells him, standing closer than necessary to him, breathing deeply of his clean, masculine scent. If she leans forward, she could press her mouth to the tanned flesh showing above his t-shirt. 

"Fucking bureaucrats are going to be decommissioning this place soon, God help Australia," he swears fervently. "God help humanity."

"The Marshall has a plan."

"Yeah he always has a plan. I'm wondering if he's lost his marbles completely, this time though."

"But he told me that you and your son have already agreed," Mako pointed out, a faint frown in her eyes.

"Yeah well, I lost my bloody marbles a damned long time ago, possum," he tells her with a wry smile. "If there's something crazy and stupid to do, chances are I'll agree to do it. How else do you think I ended up in a Jaeger?"

This makes her laugh. 

*

She has a meeting with Chuck Hansen to discuss his piloting of Striker Eureka. His eyes flicker over her in a way that make her realise that he knows – that he's seen. Contempt wars with disgust and anger as he speaks with her and the undercurrent between father and son is unsettling.

Fortunately, Max is far more welcoming, showering her with adoration and dog saliva when he greets her. Max's presence defuses an otherwise awkward situation and Mako can stare into Max's adoring eyes instead of into Chuck Hansen's accusing and hostile gaze. As Mako accompanies Striker's support crew back to the Jaeger bay, Herc and his son remain in the meeting room with only Max to act as umpire.

"Jesus Christ, have you gone completely and utterly crazy?" Chuck demands violently.

Herc says nothing and Chuck glares at him. "She's two years younger than me. Didn't know you were into Lolitas, old man."

"Don't call me that," Herc says automatically, a muscle throbbing in his jaw.

"Have you fucked her?"

"You know I haven't," Herc says tightly.

"But you want to – don't even try to lie to me."

Herc doesn't speak. He knows what Chuck's seen during the neural connection – the reality and also the unspoken fantasies. Sometimes truth didn't bring people together, it ripped them apart with painful claws that left them bleeding.

As Chuck leaves the room, Max on his heels, Herc stares down at his hand which is clenched into a fist, forcing himself to exhale slowly.

*

The only thing that brings a smile to his grim face that day is the sight of Mako coming out of the last of her meetings. She looks a little tired but when she sees him, her smile matches his and she walks up to him and traces the letters on his battered old RAAF jacket with a tapering fingertip. He doesn't know why he still wears the battered old jacket. Perhaps it's his way of holding onto the old days, in the days before the monsters arrived.

"You done for today?" he asks her, his voice a little harsher than he intends, startled but very aroused by her boldness.

She nods and slides her small hand into his and they walk towards the sleeping quarters together.

He follows her into her room, his mouth on hers and her lips part for him welcomingly. He backs her against the wall of her room, kissing her hard. She is soft and responsive in his arms, pulling at his clothing deliberately, her hands sliding beneath his shirt to touch his warm, tanned flesh. The desire is mutual and there is no pretending otherwise.

Even though this is wrong and he knows that nothing good can come of it, it feels so good and he just can't bring himself to stop. His hands pull her black t-shirt out from her cargo pants, teasing her nipples, making them swell, as she arches her back to push them deeper into his hands. 

Herc pulls off her t-shirt impatiently, unhooking her plain cotton bra and lowers his head until his lips encircle her nipple. His lips tighten around the tip as her body jerks responsively to his touch. 

Mako moans with pleasure as he suckles on her breast, his teeth biting down lightly as his other hand clenches on her other breast, easily engulfing her breast in his palm. She arches against him with a moan. A sharp urgency is building between her legs and she feels the older man's hands slide down her hips, pulling off her pants and pushing her back against the bunk. 

He pulls her underwear down her bare legs, trailing kisses down the smooth skin of her leg. She bites her lip hard when a long, cool finger slides deep inside her damp heat.

“You are so wet,” he says hoarsely, his fingers sliding within her slowly and knowingly. Mako closes her eyes almost in a dream like state as she leans against him as he pleasures her.

Her hips began to gently rock back and forth against him and he cups one of her breasts, kneading the flesh and playing with the nipple. She begins to move her hips harder and pushes up against him, wanting to feel his touch on her clit.

His fingers twist and turn, touching places inside her that have never been touched before. She moans when his other finger touches her clit and she covers her mouth to stifle the sound. She pushes her hips forward and rubs her clit against his finger, also impaling her slickness the cool finger that is moving inside of her. 

She comes unexpectedly, gripping tightly around the finger inside her, her hips rocking from side to side while her clit is teased by his calloused finger. The pleasure races through her body and she is unable to breathe as she rocks against his hand. 

He guides her so that she's kneeling on the bed and puts his knees between her legs, spreading her legs so that she is exposed to him. Now, instead of his fingers touching her, it's his tongue. In shock, Mako tries to push away, but he is inexorable and she moans as she feels Herc's hot tongue sliding along her damp heat determinedly. 

He pushes his head between her legs, his face damp with her moisture as he makes his tongue hard, thrusting hard, his tongue sliding back and forth inside her hot, tightness. His tongue draws her aroused clit into his mouth while his tongue flickers at it.

"Oh god," she moans, feeling his tongue inside her, shocked and a little ashamed at how wet she is. She stiffens a little when he sucks her clitoris into his mouth, afraid that he's going to bite too hard on it, her body stiff as she waits for the expected pain. Instead, his tongue licks, back and forth, her first orgasm doing little to dampen her arousal as the unfamiliar shivers of pleasure race through her body again. 

Mako moans as Herc removes his mouth, his probing fingers circling her heat, teasing it, the spasms increasing in intensity. She groans as she feels him increase the pressure of his fingers. His fingers plunge into her again and again as her body tightens around him. He holds her down, his hand pushing hard on her back as she screamed while he pleasures her ruthlessly.

Mako's head shoots up as she screams in pleasure. He pulls back out slowly, plunging back in as she is bent over on the bed submissively. He makes her come twice more before she collapses into his arms in an exhausted heap.

"You are very, _very_ sexy, did you know that?" he whispers her hoarsely, kissing her damp brow lingeringly as she curls up against him. "And _extremely_ noisy for such a little thing."

"Very funny." she retorts, licking the salt of his sweat from his lips.

"But what about you?" she asks. "Isn't it your turn?" she asks him in a small voice.

"You want to damn us both to hell for eternity?" he asks her quizzically, perspiration beading his upper lip as he kisses her again.

"I think we could already get in trouble for what we've done," she tells him, rolling on top of him and smiling down at him, her dark eyes filled with uncharacteristic laughter.

"So we might as well go the whole hog, is what you're saying."

"Yes. Whole hog," she repeats earnestly.

He throws the remainder of his clothes onto the floor of her room and she stares at his arousal, as if mesmerised. Theoretically, she knows all about sex. She has no actual experience with such matters, but it looks pretty huge to her … long … thick .. fascinating. 

He comes to lie beside her, leaning over her slender body and his cock thickens as he rubs against her. He pressed his body against hers, feeling her breasts push against his chest, her nipples against his skin.

He kisses her again, his tongue sliding into her soft mouth and she moans thickly, pleasure causing her eyes to close.

"Are you sure you want this?" he demands hoarsely and she nods wordlessly.

He pushes himself against her tightness, holding himself rigid as he seeks entrance to her slender body. He feels her slowly open to him, her tightness slipping tightly around the head of his cock.

Mako begins to whimper and groan as she feels him forcing his way into her tight body. She clutches the bed sheets as he pushes with his hips, his slick cock jerking in pleasure as her body stretches around the thick head. 

“Oh god,” she moans out as he thrusts hard with his hips, the head of his cock suddenly forced inside her. She stretches wide to wrap tightly around him. 

She has never felt anything like this before. He hears her grunt of pleasure and he fights the urge to just bury himself inside her with one powerful thrust. 

He begins to press further inside her, fighting her muscles as his rigidness pushes aside her body's resistance. He pushes in an inch, pulls out, than pushes back in again.

"Christ, you are so tight," he says between gritted teeth.

"It's ok," she whispered, panting loudly.

Just as she's not quite sure she can be stretched any wider, he bears down until he's buried inside of her.

He kisses her at the same time he thrusts and Mako cries out as she feels him sink into her tight, body. Her cry is captured by his mouth. At first the pain is almost unbearable but he takes it slow, his hips continuing to move, pulling out, than pushing back in, each time going deeper. He pushes her hard and she thrusts back, the jerking thrusts causing her body to bounce up and down as meaningless sounds escape her lips.

She closes her eyes as she feels him pumping in and out of her body. His hands grip her tightly. "You can take all of this and more," he promises her hoarsely. Herc's teeth are clenched, his eyes closed as he fucks her slow and hard, feeling the way her body rocks back and forth with each powerful thrust, his hand touching her clit and applying just the right amount of pressure.

With one last thrust, he buries himself into her and he sees her eyes roll back in her head as she cries out in very loud pleasure. 

When he can't take it any longer, he tightens and then pours himself into her. Mako's body clenches around him like a tight glove as she surrenders to her own violent climax. He collapses heavily on top of her, breathing ragged. When he tries to roll off of her, her arms tighten around her.

"Don't go," she whispers.

"I'm not," he tells her, kissing her cheek tenderly. She feels the hot rush of come trickle out of her body as he pulls out of her. He leaves her for a moment but then returns with a cool wash cloth to clean away the stickiness of sex and her blood.

Then she's back in his arms again and they hold each other close until they fall asleep.

*

In the morning, he walks her to the plane that is going to take her back to Anchorage. Both of them have shadows under their eyes. Her mouth is bruised and swollen and their bodies beneath the clothing are scratched and bruised. He knows she doesn't love him, that this is a kind of fucked up hero worship combined with youthful rebellion, but he doesn't care.

"I assume you're on the injection … I'm clean," he tells her bluntly and she nods. "I usually don't fuck without a condom, but you seem to be able to make me do … rash things."

She takes that as a compliment of sorts and touches his mouth with her fingers. He kisses her fingertips lingeringly.

"Have a safe trip," he tells her softly as he presses his lips against her forehead.

"Goodbye," she whispers, touching his cheek lightly. 

His eyes close for a moment. Last night when he lost himself in her welcoming body again and again, the pain and madness of the world was chased away briefly. As he walks away from her, he feels the pain return and his jaw tightens and his blue eyes become shadowed and grim once more.


	3. The Third

When Herc Hansen meets Mako Mori again, it's at the Hong Kong Shatterdome. 

The day after Striker Eureka is decommissioned from active service in Australia, the Kaiju Mutavore emerges from the Breach and heads towards Sydney. Upon approaching the city, Mutavore's path is hindered by Echo Saber and Vulcan Specter. Mutavore destroys both Jaegers and breaks through the city's Anti-Kaiju Wall in less than an hour, proceeding to attack the city. 

The recently decommissioned Striker Eureka is deployed and confronts Mutavore – before being redeployed to Hong Kong even though it is clear that the Wall of Life is useless as a line of defence against the Kaiju.

When the Australians arrive in Hong Kong, they are bitter, disillusioned and exhausted. It's hard to believe that the powers that be think that decommissioning Sydney is the right thing to do in the wake of the Mutavore attack. Chuck Hansen is even more hostile to Mako than before and Max is even more welcoming. Herc says nothing, merely allows his gaze to drink her in as she stands at the edge of the helipad of the Pan Pacific Defence Corps compound.

Night can't come fast enough and Herc makes his way to Mako's room under cover of darkness and she's waiting for him, trembling and impatient. For the next two weeks, Mako and Herc couple frantically and furtively in darkened corners of the Shatterdome. Brief moments snatched here and there amidst the chaos and the endless briefings. 

Pentecost is so obsessed with the upcoming mission that he does not see what's going on under his eyes. Doesn't see the looks that his friend and his daughter give one another across the room. He doesn't notice the red marks on Mako's throat or the shadows under her eyes. He has no idea that one of his oldest friends is tutoring Mako outside of the kwoon and that Mako is proving an extremely apt and inventive pupil in matters sensual.

Chuck's temper becomes even more precarious, his fury almost causing sparks. He can barely bring himself to look at his father and he directs his rage at Mako, blaming her for his father's fall into insanity. 

"Jesus Christ, old man," Chuck rages when the two of them are alone. "Do you think I want to see her with your dick in her mouth?" As much as they try to focus on other things during the Drift, it's impossible to block out all the images.

*

Everything changes forever, though when Raleigh Becket arrives at the Shatterdome. 

Becket is quiet, almost introspective – not the brash larrikin that Herc remembers from Manila. The heat in the room when Raleigh and Mako are near one another is electric and very powerful.

When Herc is reintroduced to Becket in front of Striker Eureka's Jaeger bay, Chuck is in the course of throwing a ball for Max. Instead of going after the ball, the bulldog comes galloping up to Mako, who kneels to receive his droolly adoration. 

“Hey, Max!” Herc calls out, following to make sure the dog doesn't get carried away. “Don’t drool over Miss Mori," he says. He looks up at Mako with a shrug. “He sees a pretty girl, gets all wound up...” 

Herc's eyes are cool and shuttered when he sees the way that Becket is looking at Mako and the way she's looking back at him.

Pentecost gestures from Raleigh to Herc. “Raleigh, this is Hercules Hansen. An old friend from the Mark 1 glory days. Best damn Jaeger jockey that ever lived.”

Standing, Herc cocks his head as he extends his hand to Raleigh. “I know you, mate,” he says. “We rode together before, yeah?”

Raleigh takes Herc’s hand and nods respectfully, his voice earnest and steady. “Raleigh Becket. We did, sir. My brother and I. Six years ago. In a three-Jaeger team drop.”

“That’s right,” Herc says. “Manila. Three of us against a Category Four, right? That was before my son joined up. Tough fight.”

“Aren’t they all?” Raleigh says, nodding. “Saw you on TV in Sydney against Mutavore - another tough fight.”

Chuck whistles and Max swaggers back to him, the way only a bulldog can happily swagger. 

Herc tries not to grimace as he looks at Chuck who has opted not to join the conversation. He watches as Chuck pulls Max away and is now sitting at one of Striker Eureka’s gigantic feet glaring at his father, Mako and Raleigh.

“I was sorry to hear about your brother,” Herc says. Despite everything, he means it.

"Herc and his son Chuck will be running point using Striker Eureka. The fastest Jaeger in the world. First and last of the Mark 5s. The Australians decommissioned it a day before the Sydney attack." Pentecost finally provides Raleigh with an inkling of his intended plans.

"Yeah, it was lucky we were still around, yeah," Herc says.

"Now he's running point for us," Pentecost tells him. Herc watches as Pentecost briefs the returned Ranger on the proposed mission, watches the way Mako's gaze does not move away from Becket's face.

"Good to have you back," he tells the younger man politely as he walks away with Pentecost for their briefing with the scientist. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Mako continuing to accompany Becket on his tour of the Shatterdome. Mako glances back at him and the expression in her dark eyes is unreadable. 

*

Herc walks through the mess hall to get breakfast. The serving area along one wall with trash cans and a counter at the far end. Through an open window, the kitchen crew can be seen energetically washing dishes. The main floor area is taken up with long tables set parallel to each other.

Even this early in the morning, most of the tables are occupied. Each Jaeger crew appears to have a designated spot. The Wei triplets are accompanied by the syncopated thump of their ever-present basketball as they carry trays with one hand and dribble between the three of them with the other. The Russians, a few tables over, have brought along their soundtrack. Ukrainian hard house rumbles and booms from a portable speaker set in the middle of their table. 

Herc is coming from the serving area carrying trays of food and sees Raleigh looking around, a little confused as the newcomer. He finds himself calling out to him even though part of him wants as little to do with the young man as possible.

“Raleigh! Come sit with us."

"Oh no … I'm ok," Raleigh says politely.

"Aww no, come on, there's plenty of room at our table.”

Raleigh falls into step with him. Herc smiles despite himself at the way the younger man stares at the food on Herc’s tray.

“I haven’t seen bread in a while,” Raleigh comments, picking up a piece from Herc’s tray. 

“Hong Kong,” Herc says. “Beauty of an open port. No rationing. We have potatoes, peas, sweet beans, some decent meatloaf...”

They arrive at the table and Herc waves at the crew to scoot down and make space for Raleigh.

“Sit down,” he says. “This is my son, Chuck. He’s my co-pilot now.”

Raleigh nods. Max is under the table patrolling for scraps. By contrast, Herc is glaring at Raleigh with open hostility.

“He’s more, _my_ co-pilot – right dad?” Chuck corrects. Then, as Raleigh sits down, Chuck start talking to Herc as if Raleigh isn't there. “This is the guy that’s supposed to run defence for me? In that old rust bucket of yours?”

“When was the last time you jockeyed, Ray?” Chuck asks him.

“Five years,” Raleigh replies.

“And what did you do those five years?” Chuck presses. “Something pretty important, I reckon.”

“I was in construction,” Raleigh tells him.

“Oh, well, that’s... that’s great,” Chuck says sarcastically. "I’m sure that’ll be really helpful, Ray. If we ever need to build our way out of a fight.”

Raleigh waits for him to finish, then calmly says, “It’s Raleigh." 

Herc is impressed with the younger man's composure. At the same age, he probably would have already thrown a punch.

“Whatever,” Chuck says. “Look, you’re Pentecost’s bright idea, and my old man seems to like you, but it's guys like you who brought down the Jaeger Programme. To me, you’re dead weight. You slow me down, I’m going to drop you like a sack of kaiju shit.”

He stands up with his tray and steps back from the table. Herc notices that Raleigh watches him steadily, not reacting at all

“I'll see you around, Ray,” Chuck tells him. He whistles and Max scrambles out from under the table. “C’mon, boy.”

Trailed by the dog, Chuck swaggers off in the direction of the dishwashing station.

After a moment, Herc clears his throat. “You can blame me for that one,” he says. “I raised him on my own. Smart kid, but I never knew when to give him a hug or a kick in the ass.”

Raleigh looks at him for a long moment and then says. “With respect, sir, I’m pretty sure which one he needs.” 

The young man's calmness is an interesting contrast to the storminess he must be experiencing within and Herc finds himself liking the younger man even as he knows that Raleigh's arrival has spelled the end of his always precarious relationship with Mako Mori.

*

For Herc, there is no doubt in his mind that everything is over when he watches Raleigh and Mako move with inimitable grace and artistry as they fight in the kwoon during the candidate trials. Each thrust and parry is anticipated and blocked. The two are Drift compatible – they're almost Drifting now before his very eyes and Mako has eyes for no one except the young Jaeger pilot with the tousled blond hair and a rakish smile.

Becket is fearless in his defence of Mako, defiant and selfless. He openly supports her bid to be his co-pilot and he treats her like an equal. Mako behaves like someone who has finally discovered a missing piece of her soul.

When Mako tries to talk to him about it, Herc holds up his hand, swallowing hard. "There's no need to say anything, Mako," he tells her steadily. "What we … had … " His voice trails off. He has no words and he walks away from her abruptly, trying to gather his thoughts, aware that she is watching him walk away with tears in her eyes, confused and upset.

*

Herc is in the LOCCENT Mission Control when both Mako and Becket fall out of alignment and he frantically tries to help get the system offline before the Shatterdome is obliterated by the plasma cannons activated by Mako when she becomes lost in her memories.

Tendo Choi and Herc are the last people in the LOCCENT, Herc hauling at the heavy conduits that carried power to the main LOCCENT terminal banks and tearing the rest of the cables out of the wall as they pray for Becket to get through to Mako despite her memories before she kills them all.

Later when they're in Pentecost's office, he stands silent as his son vents loudly in complete rage.

“This is ridiculous! They’re putting our lives at risk—and our whole mission—against an enemy that’s already kicking our ass. You think I want them on _my wing_ when I try to drop a nuke into the Breach? They don’t deserve to pilot a Jaeger, sir.”

The last part of Chuck's rant is delivered from Pentecost’s office doorway. On the final “sir,” he throws the door open and storms out. Herc starts to follow, then stops.

“Stay there – give me a moment,” Herc tells his son. Chuck nods. Herc then shuts the door and comes back to Pentecost.

“Your son is out of line,” Pentecost tells him. “He’s arrogant, he’s overbearing...”

“And he’s right,” Herc says. “Look, I know you don’t like him, but this time he’s right. They aren’t ready for combat.” It hurts him to say this, but despite how he feels about Mako, he knows that he's right.

“We’re still examining Gipsy Danger. There might have been a mechanical failure—”

“Stacker,” Herc says. He is probably the only person in the Shatterdome or its associated facilities who calls Stacker Pentecost by his first name, and then only in private. “I am a father. I know how you feel. But we both saw it. We both know it.”

Pentecost lets the clipboard fall. He looks up to meet Herc’s gaze.

“I saw it. I know it. That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Oh, I know,” Herc says. “Remember, Stacker. You and me, we go all the way back to the beginning. We piloted Mark Is, we stood up against the first kaiju, and we watched the next generation of Rangers come up and stand on our shoulders. That’s the way of it. Now we have to face up to two things about this next generation. One, they might not be as good as we were. Two, they’re going to take over for us either way. But the thing is, boss,” Herc continues, “if we let ’em go out too early, all we’re doing is killing ourselves quicker.”

“Sounds like conversations I’ve had with myself,” Pentecost says. “But ask _yourself_ whether you’d rather have Gipsy Danger with a less-than-optimal pilot—or no Gipsy Danger at all.”

“Hoping that’s not the only choice,” Herc says. He might have said more, but right then they both hear shouting in the hall.

*  
Herc throws open the door to see Chuck and Raleigh brawling in the hall like a couple of idiot football fans. He walks out to see a bleeding Raleigh in the course of twisting an enraged Chuck's arm behind his back.

“Stop!” he roars as runs towards them, rage in his eyes.

“What the hell is going on?” he demands angrily.

Raleigh shoves away from Chuck, raising both hands in compliance, but Chuck isn't done yet. He takes one more shot, and Raleigh ducks it as easily.

Herc is there to intercept, shoving his son against the wall again and growling straight into his face. “This is over!” he roars, glaring into Chuck's furious face.

Chuck struggles but Herc doesn't let go. Father and son hold each other’s gaze, neither willing to back down. Herc has a sudden moment of realisation that unexpectedly, some of Chuck's rage is on his behalf, that Chuck is throwing blows at Raleigh because he knows that his father will never do so.

Glancing back, he sees that Raleigh's already calmed down and is staring at him with considerable comprehension and awareness in his steady blue eyes. Herc meets his gaze, fully cognizant of the fact that the younger man has been inside Mako's head and that he knows everything and more. He doesn't see any anger or reproach in Raleigh's eyes. There's the expected jealousy, but there is also understanding and sympathy. It's almost unbearable and Herc wants to get the hell out of there.

Mako is standing a little away but Herc can see in her posture that she’d been ready to jump in and defend Raleigh against Chuck. Her weight is a little forward, and she is bouncing on the balls of her feet. Regardless of what the Marshall has to say, the two of them are already a team and Raleigh Becket has selected his co-pilot.

“Mr. Becket! Miss Mori!” Pentecost barks “In my office, now!”

Raleigh and Mako comply. As they pass the Hansens, Herc lets Chuck go, as if daring him to take another shot at Raleigh in full sight of both his father and Pentecost.

All Chuck does is stare hard, first at Raleigh and then at Herc. Then he turns and walks slowly away down the hallway until he has broken through the perimeter of onlookers and disappears back in the direction of the Shatterdome.

*

After the scrap outside Pentecost’s office, Herc allows himself precisely fifteen minutes to get his temper under control and decide what he is going to say. Then he goes looking for Chuck in Striker Eureka’s maintenance area. He finds his son working with a three-foot wrench on a single bolt whose head is bigger than Herc’s fist. Though compared to the size of most of the machined parts of Striker Eureka, it was a sliver.

“He’s grounding Mako,” Herc says over the sound of whatever turn-of-the-century guitar hero is playing on the radio. It all sounds the same to him.

“Well, that’s half of the right decision,” Chuck said. He wipes his hands and adds, “But I want him off the mission even more than ... _her_ …” The venom in his voice makes Herc flinch.

Something about the moment—Chuck’s flip attitude sets against the immensity of the task before them, or his knee-jerk impulse to destroy an ally because he thinks he might be a rival when the Pan-Pacific Defence Corp needs every warm body Hannibal Chau’s market share can finance... Whatever it is, it tips Herc over an edge that he’s been moving toward for a long time.

He reaches down and turns the radio down. Not off, but down.

“Hey, I was listening to that,” Chuck protests.

“Who are you?” Herc asks his son.

Chuck looks confused and belligerent at the same time, like it irritates him not to know the answer to a question, but it irritates him even more that his father would ask him a question he can't answer.

“What?”

Herc smashes the radio into the floor. A few small pieces of it bounce away, but it is a shop-floor model, designed to take a beating. He hasn’t wrecked it, but it makes an impression on Chuck. Gets his full attention.

“ _Who_ are you?” he demanded, stepping up into his son’s face.

“I’m the only chance we’ve got to deliver that bomb, is who I am—” Chuck starts to speak.

“Not the point,” Herc said.

“—but I’m stuck with two prison guards, the basketball triplets, your Tokyo pop ex-girlfriend, and a washout.”

“Not the point!” Herc says, louder.

Chuck gets louder, too. “Pentecost may be a good man, but he hasn’t seen combat in, what? Ten years, maybe? More? The only chance we’ve got at a future is delivering that bomb, and I am the one doing it—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!”

“That’s who I am!”

“I know,” Herc says, dialling it back just a notch. “I know you’re a great Ranger, and I’m proud of that. But damnit, kid... why are you not a better person? Why didn’t I make you a better person?”

“A better person?” Chuck repeats, as if he can't believe that this matters to Herc. “Don’t blame yourself. It’s not like you really brought me up anyway. After mum died, I spent more time with these machines than I ever did with _you_.” He taps the wrench fondly against the chassis of Striker Eureka.

Herc remembers the mushroom cloud rising over Sydney. The second one. The first had been out at the islands, an hour before, and had slowed the kaiju down. The authorities had given the entire population of downtown Sydney one hour to clear out.

One hour for five million people to get to safety

Then the second nuke came down. The kaiju died. So had Angela. He had not known whether it was the kaiju or the bomb that had killed her. Pentecost had taken him aside and told him it was the kaiju, that she had been killed in the collapse of the building where she worked. Herc had never made up his mind if he could believe that or not. All he knew was that he’d only had an hour. He’d gotten from the base, where he was an active-duty pilot with the Air Force, across the bay into Sydney while everyone else was getting the hell out. Cell networks were down. There was no way to find anyone. He had to guess, and he could only get one of them. He chose Chuck, and Chuck had never forgiven him for it.

Chuck’s school had survived the kaiju but been reduced to ashes and slag by the second nuke. Herc could see the mushroom cloud in his mind, rising over downtown Sydney as he got the hell out of there in an old Bell Kiowa that had probably seen its first service in Vietnam. Was Angela already dead by then? He would never know.

But Herc Hansen had sacrificed everything for this boy, and Chuck would always hate him for it. Sometimes Herc wanted to sit him down and say, _Hey, listen, would you really rather I had let you die so I could save your mother? Is that what you want?_

_Because I pray to any and all gods that have ever existed that you never have to make that choice._

Not that Chuck would listen. Because Chuck didn’t listen to anyone.

"And you know what? You've got a nerve asking me who I am … I'm not the one who's been fucking a girl young enough to be my bloody daughter …"

Herc doesn't have an answer for that. How could he? Chuck looks down at the ground for a moment and then glares up at his father. "You know, it was bad enough when you were the one banging her, but now she's gone and hooked up with Becket – the two of them might get us all killed."

"It's not her fault – we don't get to choose Drift compatibility," he reminds his son.

"And you're not angry? You're just going to give up her like that? Lose her to Becket?" Chuck demands. Again, Herc gets the strangest glimpse of something that might be a twisted sense of loyalty in his son. 

"If she was mine, I'd fight for her with every last breath in my body," he tells his son. "But she was never mine to begin with," Herc tells his son quietly. "I’m also not sure she's ready to be piloting so soon … but I don't blame her for being compatible with Becket."

“Don't understand you," Chuck bites out. "Never damned will." Chuck tells him evenly. "Let’s face it - the only reason we even _speak_ today is because we’re Drift-compatible. Because we’re good at smashing things together. In fact, we don’t even _need_ to speak.”

He picks up the battered radio and dials it back to its original volume.

“Catch you in the Drift, Dad,” he says, and turns it up a little higher.

*

Herc sees the kitchen staff and the other people in the mess hall giving Raleigh and Mako the cold shoulder. The collective shunning is painful but understandable. He sees Mako standing there, still and alone, narrow shoulders hunched over slightly and it takes all of his willpower not to go up to her and put his arms around her.

He sees Raleigh walk up to her and they stare at each other for a long moment. Raleigh says something to her and then the two of them leave the mess hall together. 

Herc watches them leave with shuttered eyes and a heavy heart. He wonders what they'll talk about. Will Raleigh force a confrontation? Will he force Mako to choose? As far as Herc's concerned, Mako has already made her choice.


	4. Category IV

The LOCCENT is barely controlled chaos, with the command systems still not fully checked out from the morning and now a brand new escalation of the kaiju threat. Screens on the walls over the main command centre platform display a map of the Pacific Rim, with the Breach glowing near the centre and two dots moving toward Hong Kong—and moving fast.

Herc enters the LOCCENT with Chuck, Pentecost and Gottlieb. Mako and Raleigh are standing a little apart from everyone else like it is a high-school formal and they are waiting for someone to ask them to dance.

“Marshall,” Tendo says. “Breach was exposed at twenty-three hundred. We have two signatures.” 

"I love being right,” Gottlieb says smugly and Herc feels a flicker of irritation, despite himself.

“What size are they?” Pentecost asks.

“Both Category IVs,” Tendo tells him. He brings up visual approximations of the two kaiju based on their signatures from the deep ocean. One appears blocky and round in profile, with a surface density reading suggesting a heavy carapace. The other was all jagged angles and claws, with a long spiked tail. “Codenames: Otachi and Leatherback. They’ll reach Hong Kong within the hour.”

“Evacuate the city. Clear the cargo docks, close the bridges,” Pentecost orders. “I want every citizen in a refuge, right now. Ships in the harbour?”

“Coast Guard’s evacuating all crews,” Tendo tells him. Pentecost, despite his lack of UN authority as of a week ago, still has a pretty good working relationship with the local authorities, who have seen the kaiju up close, rather than only through the numbers in the cells of a spreadsheet. Pentecost pauses, weighing his options.

All of the Jaeger crews are crowded into the LOCCENT, and the Weis are the first to speak up.

“We are going out there,” one of them says. “No matter what.”

“So are we,” says Sasha Kaidanovsky. She points at Raleigh. “But not with them.”

“Well said, Red sister,” Chuck says with a smirk and it takes all of Herc's self-control not to smack his son across the head.

Pentecost cuts them all off with a flattening motion of one hand.

“Sir,” Gottlieb says, stepping into the pause. “You have to hold off. My parabola was right. We may lose a city, but we must preserve the Jaegers for the mission. We need to hold ground.”

That was the problem, wasn’t it? They were going to need all the Jaegers they had for Operation Pitfall. The kaiju kept getting stronger and recent engagements were costing more and more Jaegers. They’d lost eight in 2024, and only taken out fourteen kaiju. The trend was not good.

On the other hand, could Pentecost stand by and watch kaiju destroy Hong Kong while they finished their preparations for the operation? 

“Hey,” Herc speaks up. “It’s a city of ten million people against _numbers on your chalkboard._ ”

“My numbers are correct,” Gottlieb says stiffly. “A city of ten million or the world? We cannot save everyone. If we do not have the Jaegers to deliver the bomb, protecting one city will not matter.”

There was a pause. Herc sees Raleigh looking at Pentecost, who is refusing to look back at him. He recalls that something similar happened five years ago off the coast of Alaska and he can tell both Raleigh and Pentecost remember it, too. 

“You can’t save everyone,” Raleigh says. “Right?”

Pentecost says nothing. Herc sees the weariness in him and wonders again, not for the first time just how ill his old friend really is. It doesn't take a doctor to realise that there's something very wrong with the Marshall. The tiredness. The sudden nose-bleeds. The sudden need to retire from meetings.

“Sir,” Tendo prompts. “Do you want to deploy?”

Another long moment goes by. Then Pentecost turns to the seven pilots who are not Mako and Becket.

“Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha,” he says. “Frontline the harbor. Stay on the Miracle Mile.”

To Herc and Chuck he adds, “Striker Eureka, stay in the back and guard the coastline. We cannot lose you, so only engage as a final option.”

Much as Herc would love to be in the thick of the battle, he knows that they can't afford to lose Striker Eureka. She is faster, more agile, and tougher than any of the other remaining Jaegers, which makes her by far the best bet to execute Operation Pitfall, even though Cherno Alpha’s armour plating is rated slightly higher. It's clearly not an easy decision for Pentecost to deploy Striker.

“Yes, sir,” Herc and Chuck reply.

Pentecost then turns to Mako and Becket, studying them for a long moment. Unlike the other three teams, they haven't been ordered to suit up.

All he says though is,“You two stay put.”

The Russians and the Chinese leave to do pre-deployment linkage checks in their respective Conn-Pods. Chuck has a gloating grin on his face but as Herc heads out the door, he turns back and gives both Mako and Becket a sympathetic and reassuring smile.

*

Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha are on the deploy pad at the end of Scramble Alley, each hanging from a pair of Jumphawk helicopters. Striker Eureka is right behind them, after riding the conveyor belt from her repair bay under the watchful and nervous eyes of everyone in the LOCCENT.

“Neural handshake confirmed,” Tendo says to each team in turn. “Setting comms link for both teams. Open channel.”

The Wei triplets move like they are one person. All Ranger pairs move in unison while they are Drifting, but the quality of the Weis’ handshake is different. 

The Russians, by contrast, move together, but they are all power and no grace. Everything they do looks violent. Their hard-house soundtrack thumps over the feed from Cherno Alpha. Herc supposes he should be grateful that his rebellious son doesn't demand to have his loud, thumping guitar music playing.

As Herc and Chuck drop, they move purposefully like athletes with a taste for bar fights – which they are.

“LOCCENT, near positions and awaiting orders,” Herc advises LOCCENT. He knows that Chuck's in his head, seeing, knowing and feeling everything. He's also in Chuck's head. For the moment, none of it matters because they're ready for combat and their personal problems don't count for shit at that moment.

“Hold tight, Striker Eureka,” Pentecost tells them. “Cherno and Typhoon are en route.” He pauses, and then says to no one in particular. “Let’s get this done. We’ve got a bomb to drop.”

*

The Jumphawks are in position at the Miracle Mile, toward the mouth of Hong Kong Bay. A mile behind stands Striker Eureka, holding position in case worse came to worst.

Herc hears Sasha speak. “Reaching target zone. Disengaging transport.”

Both Jaegers drop from the Jumphawks, which leap up as their load decreases from thousands of tons to zero. A split second apart, Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon splashes down, disappearing behind impact waves. As the waves radiate out from their splashdown, both Jaegers turn their running lights on.

“Cherno Alpha holding the coastline,” Sasha reports. “Beacon is on.”

There is a moment of quiet at the mouth of Hong Kong Bay. From LOCCENT, Tendo is watching the monitor as it tracks the kaijus’ approach. “They’re right there,” he announces. Camera feeds from both Jaegers display nothing but the splashdown waves breaking against the shore. “Typhoon, Alpha. We are reading both kaiju signals in your area. Do you have visual?”

“Crimson Typhoon here. No visual,” one of the Wei triplets responds. “Our signal shows same as yours.”

Both Jaegers turn to scan the area.

Otachi breaches.

"Holy shit, it's massive," Chuck mutters. Even though the Drift means that speaking is not needed, out of habit, Jaeger Pilots still speak aloud.

 _It is_ , Herc agrees silently. A mountain of kaiju malice, erupts from the ocean and barrelling straight into Crimson Typhoon. 

The Jaeger staggers, but Crimson Typhoon is agile and does not go down. The Wei triplets immediately absorb the first blow and set Crimson Typhoon for a counter-strike. She never gets to deliver this because Otachi hits first, punching a deep dent in Crimson Typhoon’s torso. Another strike at the Jaeger’s head pierces a hole in the Conn-Pod. 

Even as one of Otachi’s claws puncture the pilot compartment, the Weis continue to counterpunch with the twinned left-side power gauntlets, driving Otachi back in an attempt to regain their posture. Otachi charges in again.  
Crimson Typhoon answers by spawning triple saw blades, one from each wrist, carbide-tipped and powers to spin at 6000 revolutions per minute. The Weis came at Otachi with a nimble, fluid barrage of strikes, acrobatically avoiding most of the kaiju’s powerful blows and gouging pieces of its flesh away with the saws. But Otachi does not slow down. None of Crimson Typhoon’s attacks seem to damage the kaiju.

The Jaeger is taking a massive pounding. She can barely keep up with Otachi’s clawing forelimbs, and the kaiju’s tail snaps forward with deadly timing to cut holes in Crimson Typhoon’s armour at vital junctures. The saw blades retract, except one which is too badly bent to get back into its housing. The Weis try to get their I-22 Plasmacaster warmed up, but already Otachi has damaged the channels that feed the plasma reservoirs.

 _Where the fuck is Leatherback?_ Herc wonders.

Only then is Cherno Alpha able to close and engage Otachi.

Cherno Alpha smashes it first. Otachi reacts fast, blocking the strike with such ferocity that Cherno Alpha rebounds backward.

Crimson Typhoon, released from Otachi’s grasp, begins to sink, leaning at an angle with both arms dangling limp. One of the twinned gauntlets on the left is gone. From the other hangs the bent and useless saw assembly, all of the saw’s teeth broken off. Plasma energies bleeds weakly from the deployed barrels of the Plasmacaster, but it is too badly damaged to reach any kind of full charge. Crimson Typhoon’s skull frame is partially torn open and seawater is beginning to short out its motor arrays. The Weis, steady to the last, keep running self-repair protocols and trying to reroute energy from nonessential systems.

“Typhoon is no longer combat-operational,” Herc and Chuck hear Tendo Choi announce.

"No shit," Herc mutters, horror in his voice. It's clear that Crimson Typhoon is doomed.

Otachi strikes at Cherno Alpha making her flail to regain her balance. With the time gained, Otachi turns back to the immobile Crimson Typhoon.

To the horror of all watching, Otachi seizes Crimson Typhoon’s head in its forelimbs, hooking one of its leg claws into the centre of the Jaeger’s torso to hold it steady. With a deafening grind of tearing metal, accompanied by the flare of ruptured energy conduits, Otachi tears Crimson Typhoon’s head off and crushes it. It heaves and throws the head an incredible distance across Hong Kong Bay, releasing the decapitated Jaeger torso to topple slowly over and disappear under the water.

"Jesus Christ," Chuck mutters in horror as the Wei triplets are crushed to death.

“Crimson Typhoon is down,” Tendo Choi's voice tells them, even though they can see for themselves the tragedy that has taken place.

Otachi is already turning to go after Cherno Alpha.

"LOCCENT, Typhoon and Alpha are in trouble. We’re moving in,” Herc announces loudly.

"You are to hold your ground,” Pentecost answers. “Do not engage. Hold your position! We need you to carry that bomb – do you copy?”

Chuck swears loudly and the Hansens grit their teeth in frustration and glare at one another but Striker Eureka holds her position.

Out in the bay, Leatherback rises from the water near where the lower half of Crimson Typhoon has sunk. True to the initial sensor outline, it is hulking and heavily armoured, with forearm carapaces that extend well beyond the elbow joints to form pointed plates like twin shields. Along its spine is some kind of animated fluorescence, extending down a bony ridge from the back of its skull to the just above the base of its stubby tail.

Herc's mind is moving frantically and he knows that his son is coming to the same conclusion. 

"Jesus, we can't just sit here and watch them die! Come on!" Chuck shouts at his father.  
Cherno Alpha is barely holding her own against Otachi. The Russians are losing. They are doing it slowly and bravely, but they are losing. There is no way they will survive a two-on-one engagement. 

The Kaidanovskys discharge the Incinerator Turbines directly into Otachi’s face, searing away the kaiju’s flesh and driving it back, but only for a moment. There is no respite for Cherno Alpha: the moment Otachi releases its grip, Leatherback moves in.

The Russian Jaeger’s Incinerator Turbines have gone dark. Leatherback has crushed them both, shattering their fans and overloading their command systems. The overpressure from that will eventually detonate Cherno’s reserves of incendiary fuel.

Leatherback is now riding on Cherno Alpha’s shoulders, digging through the cylindrical outer housing of the Jaeger’s fuel reservoirs. The combined weight of the two kaiju drives Cherno Alpha down into the water.

Herc stares at his son, who nods back grimly. "Screw this,” Herc announces. “LOCCENT, we’re moving in now!"

As Sasha screams for back-up, Striker hurtles through the water. "Hold on Cherno, we're on our way!" Herc shouts.

*

Nothing could equal Striker Eureka in a fight. The Jaeger was a beauty. It moved faster than Gipsy Danger, hit harder than Cherno Alpha, and made moves that even Crimson Typhoon couldn’t have kept up with. 

Striker takes on Otachi before it can deliver a killing blow to Cherno Alpha, hitting the kaiju with a barrage of punches that make it stagger, forcing it away from the distressed Russians. Blows to Otachi’s head beat it down toward the water, and before it can recover, Striker catches it flush with a knee. No one brawls better than the Hansens, familial conflict and all. Perhaps it's even the way both men let steam - by beating the shit out of the kaiju.

Striker has dealt more than enough punishment to kill off most of the previous kaiju they’ve encountered but Otachi gathers itself and comes right back at Striker. 

Herc and Chuck, wordless and in perfect Drift, rip through their gunslinger moves in Striker’s Conn-Pod.

The two men swear when they are knocked off-balance by Otachi’s brutal counterattack. Although staggering, Striker does not go down. Jaeger and kaiju hammer away at each other, blood spraying from Otachi to crackle on Striker Eureka’s armour and boil on the surface of the churning sea. Striker activates its thermal blades and uses them to deadly effect.

Herc knows that the inside Cherno Alpha’s Conn-Pod, Sasha and Aleksis are fighting for their lives and losing. Although his attention is focused on taking on Otachi, he is aware that his fellow Rangers are being drowned by Leatherback. Grief and fury fuel his fighting, his link with his son powerful and united as they continue their deadly combat.

*

“Cherno Alpha is down,” Tendo Choi says without inflection. “Striker, repeat: Cherno Alpha is down. Leatherback has sounded.”

“Got it,” Herc acknowledges, sorrow in his voice.

At the same time, Striker Eureka stuns Otachi with a double-fisted blow to the top of its head. The Jaeger lifts Otachi and flings it away, gaining time.

“Engage missiles,” Herc says.

Chuck spawns a virtual launcher holo. “On it,” he says. A missile bay ratchets open on Striker Eureka’s chest, exposing the stubby tips of K-Stunner ramjet missiles. "Ready salvo one,” Chuck says. “Say good night, Otachi.”

“Warning, Striker Eureka,” Herc hears Tendo say. “Leatherback on your flank, eight o’clock.”

“Salvo one—” Herc begins but there is an atmosphere-splitting crackle of an electrical shockwave bursting from Leatherback. It rakes across the surface of the ocean, the energy of its passage bulldozing a trench through the water before it hits Striker Eureka. The sound of its impact is almost as loud as Leatherback’s generation of the wave, which surrounds Striker Eureka in a writhing cage of electrical tendrils.

Striker Eureka goes dark, its missiles unfired.

“What the hell is this?” Chuck demands in disbelief. "I've never seen that before!"

Herc unlatches himself from the control platform and goes to the port side of the cockpit, looking around to see what has happened. "Fucking EMP," he mutters.

*

In Hong Kong Bay, Leatherback is pounding Striker Eureka to pieces. Inside Striker’s Conn-Pod, Herc and Chuck are on their own. They are just about reduced to fighting with bare hands, and keeping Striker going with flashlight batteries.

“Emergency power erratic,” Herc growls. “I’m only getting a second or two at a time.”

It is enough to keep them upright. Every so often they can even avoid one of Leatherback’s blows, though Striker Eureka can no longer counterpunch. But sooner or later, Leatherback is going to drive them down under the waters of Hong Kong Bay, and both know that that's going to be a one-way trip.

“We’ve gotta bail,” Chuck says.

“No, I’ve nearly got it,” Herc replies. He tries to disentangle himself from the rat’s nest of cables that has fallen across the cockpit platform, at the same time working his boots loose from the clamps that hold him and Chuck in the neural-handshake beginning stance. He gets one boot free of both the clamp and the cables just as Leatherback spins Striker Eureka around and flings Herc across the Conn-Pod into a support beam.

In his youth, before the monsters showed up to destroy the world, Herc had played Aussie rules football. He still considered it the only real man’s sport on the planet, though he made an occasional allowance for rugby. At seventeen, he’d been legged at midfield, simple play, but he’d gone down a little wrong. The sound his collarbone had made snapping then was exactly the same sound it made now.

Herc cries out in pain, tumbling across the floor as Leatherback attacks Striker Eureka’s head again. Chuck gets himself loose and skids across the floor toward his father.

“Come on,” he says, catching Herc around the waist. “Get up, old man.”

“Don’t call me that!” Herc snarls. As soon as he is on his feet he shakes Chuck’s grip loose and holds his arm cradled against his gut. With his good arm he jerks open a steel door set into the Conn-Pod wall.

Inside are two flare guns whose projectiles are said to be visible through a driving rainstorm at a distance of five kilometres. Herc has no idea whether or not this is true. They are bloody huge flare guns, though.

"It's right outside, we've gotta get out of here now," Chuck shouts at him.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he tells Chuck. “You and I are the only thing standing between that ugly bastard and a city of ten million people. Now we have a choice here. We either sit and wait, or we take these flare guns and do something really stupid.”

Through Striker Eureka’s cracked and leaking windows, the light of the Shatterdome searchlights swept over the Hansens.

“You know me,” Chuck said. “I’m _always_ up for something stupid.”

It takes them less than a minute to get up the maintenance stairs that lead from the Conn-Pod to the closest emergency hatch. Chuck cranks the door’s hatch mechanism, unbolting it with a whoosh of escaping pressurised air, and they step out onto the crown of Striker Eureka’s head.

"How's your arm?" Chuck asks him.

"Just give me the gun," Herc says irritably.

Leatherback is taking a brief break from the hard work of battering Striker Eureka into scrap. It sees the two humans appear. It cocks its head and looks at them with what Herc could have sworn was curiosity.

“Hey!” he shouts. “You dented my ride, you mealy-mouthed motherf—!”

Chuck fires before Herc can get his whole line.

 _Damn that boy,_ Herc thinks in a flash. _Always jumping the gun._

Then he fires too, a split second after Chuck, and the two enormous flares burrow into one of Leatherback’s eyes.

The kaiju roars in agony and surprise, ducking away and thrashing its head in the water to quench the flares burning inside its eyeball. The waves nearly tip Striker Eureka over, but the Jaeger is designed to keep its balance in a combination of hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, and kaiju attack all at once. It does not go down.

Herc looks at Chuck. He can't decide whether to be proud of Chuck’s bravery, irritated that Chuck has jumped ahead of him, or disappointed the way all fathers are disappointed when their sons are too much like they had been at the same age.

But he never gets to say anything, because Leatherback is recovering, and now they are going to die.

"I think we just pissed it off," Chuck comments.

"Might as well swim for it,” Herc says. Bad joke, even if he didn't have a broken collarbone, but it's the only joke he has.

"Nah, bring it back over here,” Chuck says. “I’m not done yet.”

Herc can't help it. He laughs.

*

Over the noise of the storm, and the sound of Leatherback’s building rage, they hear the Jumphawks. Out of the dark angry sky hovers the immense figure of a Jaeger...

“I’ll be goddamned,” Herc breaths. “Stacker’s going all in.”

The Jumphawks let Gipsy Danger go. Its feet hit the surf, the Jaeger’s lights go on, and it is standing eye-to-eye with Leatherback.

Gipsy assumes a fighting stance.

“A show for the condemned men,” Chuck says.

“If you don’t like it, you can jump,” Herc says irritably, tired of his son's negativity.

They both look down. It's more than a hundred feet to the water, and the surf is probably eight, ten feet.

They both back look up just as Gipsy Danger pivots away from the charging Leatherback and tears the EMP-emitting organ off the kaiju’s back. Leatherback roars and churns around in a tight turn. Gipsy Danger throws away the organ and meets Leatherback’s return charge with a crushing punch to the face.

“Yeah!” Chuck cheers. "Kick his ass!"

Gipsy Danger follows up with a pummelling series of punches and kicks that Herc recognises from the Kwoon a couple of days before. He realises that right now, he is seeing Raleigh Becket fighting. Gipsy Danger drives Leatherback straight to the pilings of one of the bridges that spanned the narrow neck between the two arms of Hong Kong Bay. Then the Jaeger’s grip slips just for a moment and Leatherback picks Gipsy Danger up and flings her away.

Sailing perhaps three hundred yards in the air, Gipsy Danger lands at one end of a huge container port, smashing through rows of cartons and construction vehicles.

Leatherback surges through the shallows as Gipsy Danger gets to her feet and meets the kaiju right at the edge of the pier, grinding and snapping pieces of Gipsy Danger’s fuselage away. Jaeger and kaiju crash up onto dry land and straight through more piles of shipping containers, scattering them like Lego blocks.

A finishing shot from Gipsy Danger sends Leatherback skidding on its dorsal carapace across the port, knocking over cranes and crushing small buildings along the way.

Leatherback flips itself over and rises to meet Gipsy Danger. The Jaeger tears loose a crane and swings it like a cricket bat at the kaiju’s head. Herc sees the windup and the stroke, and is already anticipating the impact when Leatherback ducks and rams a clawed fist into Gipsy Danger’s midsection. Chuck realises at that moment that he had anticipated Gipsy Danger moving at the speed of Striker Eureka. The differences between generations of Jaegers has never been clearer to him.

Another blow from Leatherback drops Gipsy Danger to one knee. Pressing its advantage, Leatherback closes and hammers at Gipsy Danger, beating the old Jaeger down bit by bit.

“So much for those two,” Chuck mutters in disappointment.

Herc does not reply as he watches Leatherback bearing down on the staggering Gipsy Danger.

Gipsy Danger leans just far enough to the side that Leatherback’s swipe misses. Now the Jaeger brings the crane around again and this time Leatherback does not get out of the way, taking the blow straight across its reptilian face. A spray of corrosive blood spatters and smokes across the wrecked port.

Leatherback reels away, stunned, and Gipsy Danger leaps after it, grabbing a fifty-foot metal container in each hand, smashing them together on either side of Leatherback’s head. Again Leatherback stumbles, and Gipsy Danger also takes a step back to gain the precious time its Rangers need to warm up their plasma cannons.

“Spoke too soon, maybe,” Herc says.

Leatherback charges.

Gipsy Danger unloads the plasma cannons with an air-splitting roar. Every raindrop within fifty feet of the cannons evaporates, covering the battle in a sudden fog that burns away almost at once.

Leatherback takes the salvo and keeps coming.

Gipsy Danger fires again. Pieces of Leatherback’s shell blew away and the force of the plasma detonations tosses containers around like they are Styrofoam.

Still Leatherback keeps coming.

It locks arms with Gipsy Danger in a wrestler’s grip. Herc and Chuck see the concrete at Gipsy Danger’s feet buckle from the immense force.

Gipsy Danger’s plasma cannons fire a third time. This salvo blasts away part of its anterior carapace and knocks Leatherback away to land on its side and roll to a halt. Charred and smoking pieces of kaiju litter the container yard. A gaping hole exposes part of the inside of Leatherback’s shell and the strange organs that still pulse within.

Behind Herc and Chuck, the emergency hatch is still open, and from inside Striker Eureka they hear the open comm channel on one of the speakers distributed throughout the Jaeger’s interior.

“It’s down,” Mako says.

“I made that mistake once before,” Raleigh says. “Let me check for a pulse.”

Gipsy Danger’s plasma cannon angle down to the prone Leatherback. Plasma salvos tear into the kaiju, one after another, until the barrels of the plasma battery glow on the edge of overheating and Leatherback has been scattered over the better part of the container yard.

They hear Raleigh’s voice float out from inside Striker Eureka.

“Nope, no pulse.”

Then Gipsy Danger looks away from the smoking mess that has been Leatherback, toward the city of Hong Kong proper.

“That I-19 is a fine weapon,” Herc remarks and Chuck gives him the finger. 

LOCCENT sends choppers out to retrieve the two Rangers and their stricken Jaeger, flying them back to the Shatterdome.

Both are in the infirmary being examined for signs of Kaiju blue and other injuries. Herc is x-rayed and his collarbone is re-set – all as he is watching what is happening in Hong Kong city. Clearly Mako and her co-pilot have come into their own.

*

When Mako and Raleigh return to the Shatterdome, there is a celebration in the mess hall. Not a champagne-popping party, exactly, but this is a big day and everyone knows it... though everyone also knows the cost. They’ve survived, they’ve won... but they’ve lost Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha. Five good Rangers gone and two fewer Jaegers that will take the field against the kaiju next time. 

In contrast to the last time he’d come into the mess hall, Raleigh now gets a full-throated cheer from the crowd as well as more than a few pats on the back. The young Ranger has proven himself again. At least for now. And Mako had proven herself for the first time and Herc finds himself feeling quiet joy and pride at Mako's achievement.

Despite his arm being in a sling and taped up tight to his body, he approaches the two Rangers.

“You saved us out there, mate,” Herc tells them. He nods in the direction of his son and adds, “He won’t admit it, but he’s grateful. We both are.”

“All part of the job, Herc. You’d do the same for me.” Raleigh shakes Herc’s hand, clearly being careful not to put too much into the shake out of concern for Herc’s broken collarbone. Once again, Herc realises that he likes this young man despite everything.

A rustle passes through the crowd and Raleigh sees everyone looking back across the mess hall toward the main entrance. Marshall Pentecost enters the room and everyone parts to give him room as he makes straight for Raleigh and Mako. The two rangers snap to attention.

Later, when Pentecost order the clock to be reset, Raleigh follows the Marshall from the room and Mako stays behind.

Chuck gives them both a wordless look and strides off into the distance alone with Max trotting along at his side.

"Good job," Herc tells Mako, nodding at her. He starts to walk out of the mess hall and she follows him wordlessly to his quarters. 

Chuck's already in his room, thankfully with the door closed. "Are you all right, Herc?" Mako asks him in concern, coming up to him and touching his collarbone lightly.

"Don't," Herc says gently, his body tightening at her proximity.

"I was so worried about you," she whispers, her eyes huge and shining with tears. "I thought you were going to die …"

"Tough as an old boot," he says with a forced smile. 

The last time she was in his room, she'd been naked, pressed face first against the wall as he'd been thrusting into her hard and fast, Mako biting back cries of pleasure.

"Has he asked you anything?" Herc asks her suddenly and Mako becomes very still.

"He doesn't have to, Herc. He knows everything," she says softly. "He knows how I feel about you …"

"Stop, Mako," he tells her firmly. She presses her lips together firmly and he remembers how that warm, soft mouth feels around him, when she's on her knees before him, taking him into her mouth and making him forget that anything else in the world exists except Hercules Hanson and Mako Mori and how good it feels when they're together.

"I didn't know that there would be this connection with Raleigh …" she tells him honestly. "As soon as we met …"

"I know, Mako. I saw it for myself," he tells her wryly. His blue eyes are very steadfast and his battered face is almost heart-stoppingly handsome as he smiles down into her pale face. There is no reproach or regret in his eyes, just an unreadable expression that makes her heart ache.

"I've never been the one for you – you deserve so much better than a beat-up, battered old soldier who's seen better days."

"Don't talk about yourself like that, that's never been how I see you," she tells him.

"I'm no hero, Mako. I'm just a man. It's about time you got the stars out of your eyes."

Suddenly tired, he goes to sit down on the edge of his bunk. Mako follows him and he remembers that they've spent a lot of time in his bunk – never sleeping through.

She stands between his parted thighs in a way reminiscent of that day long ago at the Academy. She touches his stubbled cheek and strong jaw, leaning forward to press a kiss to his firm mouth. He remains still, closing his eyes to merely savour the feel of her soft mouth against his for one last time.

" _Suki desu_ ," she breathes against his mouth and he flinches. He holds her head in his hands, kissing her hard before releasing her.

"I know," he says in a low voice and with tears in her eyes, she leaves his room, closing the door behind her.  
Chuck is leaning against his door, surveying her sardonically. His brown hair is tousled, his faced bruised and battered. He studies her shining eyes and quivering lip with scorn.

"That was a quick fuck, love," he observes,"Although I know exactly how creative the two of you can get." He taps his head with a finger. "Seen it all here in technicolour repeat – with sounds, too. You're a noisy girl. Nasty as well. Lots of fun for old dad there. What would the Marshall think if he knew that the two of you have been sneaking around behind his back – screwing like rabbits every chance you get. Is there anywhere in this place the two of you haven't fucked yet?"

Mako flinches.

"I love him," she says flatly and Chuck's face changes, contorts. 

"You selfish little bitch. Hasn't he been through enough? How dare you rip him to shreds like this? I get it that you're all rainbows and roses with Raleigh there, but you can leave my old man alone now." There is genuine emotion in his face and Mako's eyes widen.

"I don't want to hurt him," she swears and Chuck stares into her dark eyes fiercely. Mako walks away without another word.

 _Fuck._ Chuck hates himself for it, but he finds that he believes her. He stares down at Max's face that stares at him slightly reproachfully.

"Shut up," he tells the dog irritably. "You're biased."


	5. The End of the World

When Tendo notifies all that there are two Category IV Kaijus coming through the Breach, Pentecost orders that both Jaegers be readied.

Herc goes to his friend's quarters to see what the hell is going on. He stops dead in his tracks, staring at Pentecost who is wearing a shining black Ranger flight suit. In both hands, he holds a Ranger helmet, with the symbol of Coyote Tango proudly blazoned on the side.

"Shit, Stacker … you know you can't …" Herc exclaims in horror.

Pentecost holds up a hand. "Well _you_ certainly can't," he tells him grimly and Herc's shoulders slump in defeated acknowledgement, making him wince at the pain shooting through his collarbone.

*

The assembled pilots, researchers, LOCCENT staffers and displaced techs whose Jaegers are in pieces at the bottom of Hong Kong bay all have one thing in common as they assemble in the Shatterdome with a gleam of dawn on the horizon.

They all knew that they are going to die.

Chuck and Herc Hansen stand close together, but only Chuck is in uniform. “The old man’s off his rocker,” Chuck says. “I can’t pilot Striker alone," he says in a low voice to his father who stays nothing.

Tendo Choi looks up from his workstation and calls out, “Marshall on deck!”

Everyone turns and snaps to attention at the sight of Marshall Stacker Pentecost in full flight suit.

No one says a word until Mako approaches Pentecost and he says to her, “Funny. I don’t remember it being so tight.”

Mako does not smile. “Getting back in a Jaeger will kill you.” 

“Not getting in one will kill us all.” Pentecost puts a fatherly hand on her shoulder. “You are a brave, brave girl. I’m lucky to have seen you grow up.”

Mako nods. Tears are stinging her eyes but she does not let them fall.

“Now, if I’m going to get through this,” Pentecost tells her, “I’m going to need you to start protecting me.”

The prelaunch sequence for Striker Eureka and Gipsy Danger is well underway. Above them, the petals of the Shatterdome start to open.

Chuck strides up to Pentecost. “You’re flying with me? How are we supposed to match up?” He makes no effort to hide his scepticism, or his hostility toward the idea.

At any other time, Pentecost would have had no hesitation in tearing him a new one for insubordination, but now, with bigger issues confronting them than disrespect for a senior officer, Pentecost just answers the question calmly.

“I carry nothing into the Drift,” he says. “No memories, no rank. As for you, you’re easy. You got daddy issues? Check. You’re an egotistical jerk? Check. You’re a simple puzzle I solved on Day One.” With a look over at Herc, Pentecost adds, “But you are your father’s son. We’ll match up just fine.”

Chuck looks back and forth between Pentecost and his father. Herc can tell that he hadn’t expected Pentecost to cut into him like that.

“Works for me,” Chuck says eventually even though his face still shows that he has unanswered questions.

The petals are open and the dawn sky sheds light on the gathering at the centre of the Shatterdome. 

Herc listens to Pentecost's short speech, but all he can think about is that today the Jaegers are going out and will probably never return. They will all die. His place is out there beside his son – beside Mako and because of his damned injury, he is being relegated to the LOCCENT while all those he loves will die beneath the ocean …

*

Raleigh and Mako are already in Gipsy Danger’s Conn-Pod running their pre-deployment checklist and integrating their Drift. They do not have a chance to speak. All they were given by way of a farewell was a final exchange of glances and a brief nod.

"See you back soon," he tells Raleigh.

"Yes, sir," the younger man says respectfully. 

Pentecost is at the elevator door, waiting. Time is short, but he must be patient because he knows that Herc Hansen is sending his son off to die.

Herc and Chuck have always assumed they would be together whatever happened, but even a tough old bastard like Herc Hansen cannot run a Jaeger with a broken clavicle.

Herc stands a little way off from Pentecost, the fat bulldog Max sitting at his feet as he regards his son for the last time.

“When you Drift with someone,” Herc says in his quiet voice, “you feel like there’s nothing to talk about.” He hesitates, trying to master his emotions and failing. When he speaks again, his voice quavers and he feels almost overwhelmed by the sorrow. He drops his gaze to the dog, who looks up at Herc and then around the room, searching for the source of his master’s sadness.

“But I don’t want to regret all the things I never said out loud,” Herc tells his son. There is regret, apology and love in his gaze. It's painful for the stoic Australian to be admitting to emotions aloud.

“No need,” Chuck tells him simply. “I know them all,” and there is no more anger or resentment in his son's eyes, only regret and love.

He wraps his father in a crushing farewell hug. "I'm sorry dad, for everything," he whispers.

"There is nothing to be sorry for, you're my son … and I love you, even though you're a bloody idiot."

Chuck gives a choked laugh. He speaks in a low voice. "She loves you, you know."

Then he takes a step back. Pointing down at Max, Chuck says, “Take care of him for me.”

Herc nods, his expression grave and his heart aching as if it will burst. Technicians approach and guide him back from the deployment areas as over the comm an automated synth voice starts the countdown to Gipsy Danger’s Conn-Pod drop.

“Engaging drop in ten... nine...”

The elevator doors open. Pentecost enters and holds the door for Chuck, who does not look him in the eye and does not look back at his father. Over Chuck’s shoulder, Pentecost meets Herc’s gaze.

“Stacker,” Herc says. “That’s my son you’ve got there." His voice chokes. "My son.” Herc gives him a nod. Pentecost nods back in farewell.

*

"...Eight... seven..."

The drop countdown continues. Mako and Raleigh Drift together, the initial rush there and gone in an eye blink. 

“All these years, I’ve been living in the past,” Raleigh tells her.

Around them, Gipsy Danger’s command and control systems come online. The Conn-Pod heads-up showed the Jaeger’s body reading green across the board. The Shatterdome techs have done some immortal work in the past hours.

“I never really thought about the future,” he continues. “Until now." 

There's a flicker in their thoughts as they see both Herc and Mako lying tangled in a bunk together, naked, Herc's mouth gentle and lingering as he trails worshipful kisses down her body … arousing and enjoying. 

"I've always had bad timing," Raleigh tells her ruefully. He reaches out and touches Mako’s hand and the touch is comforting. Despite the explicit images of Herc, he can feel her emotions towards him, her confusion and her desire. She is conflicted and troubled.

"It's ok, Mako," he reassures her. 

Gipsy Danger’s head drops down the shaft toward the deployment bay, the roar of the guide rails overwhelming whatever Raleigh would have said out loud. But he doesn't need to speak in the Drift. Mako can hear loud and clear what he is thinking.

He senses her discipline in pushing her memories away but because of the pain he feels inside her, he has to speak.

"Herc's a good guy. I don't blame you," he tells her quietly. Mako flinches a little but remains calm. "Can't say I'm not more than a little bit envious of what you guys have been getting up to," he tells her. "I've got a lot of catching up to do."

_It is possible for you to love two people, you know …_

"Please shut up, Raleigh," she tells him, a smile on her mouth but even though he subsides into silence, their thoughts meet in the Drift and he is full of extravagant promises and boasts of what lies ahead. His confidence and understanding folds around her like a warm blanket and she allows herself to be guided and calmed.

*

Herc stands with Tendo in the LOCCENT six hours later. Choi is anxious and twitchy. It's almost irritating. 

Herc is calmer. He is fully aware that Tendo has doubts about the neural handshake between Chuck and Pentecost. The two of them have looked over Pentecost’s brain scans before the initiation of his neural handshake with Chuck. Whether Striker Eureka delivers its payload or not, there is no doubt that Stacker Pentecost is on his last mission. The three-hour solo he’d done in Coyote Tango ten years before had carved enough damage in his brain that it was hard to see how Pentecost could still tie his shoelaces. He was one exceptional human being. He was also doomed, suffering from long-term radiation sickness as well as the blood-vessel damage that came from treating the radiation sickness. Definitely not ideal material for a solid Drift. Yet, somehow the neural-handshake readouts are perfect.

“Both neural handshakes at one hundred percent,” Tendo announces to the LOCCENT crew.

Both Sikorsky teams were making good time, well within the mission parameters. 

Herc calls out the updates that Pentecost insists upon. “Two actives still in circle formation in the Guam quadrant. Code names Scunner and Raiju.”

From then, all he can is watch and monitor the progress of the two Jaegers, the calmness on his face masking his inner feelings of grief and helplessness.

*

The original plan had called for Gipsy, Cherno Alpha, and Crimson Typhoon to engage Scunner and Raiju, drawing them away from the Breach far enough that Striker Eureka could get there before the third kaiju—if there was going to be a third kaiju—came out.

With Cherno and Typhoon down, that plan is completely out the window. Now Gipsy Danger must hold the kaiju off on its own while Striker Eureka targets the Breach.

Things get even worse when Newt and Gottlieb come storming into the LOCCENT dishevelled, out of breath, and stinking like kaiju guts. They are irritating at the best of times but now, their bombshell incites complete panic in the already chaotic LOCCENT.

“It’s not going to work! It’s not going to work!” Newt shouts.

Herc holds up both hands and the two scientists skid to a halt in front of him.

“What’s not going to work?” he demands, glaring at the scientist.

“Blowing up the Breach!” Newt pants.

Herc looks to Gottlieb for confirmation. “Newt’s right!” Gottlieb tells him.

For a moment everyone in the LOCCENT is speechless. Newt and Gottlieb have agreed on something. Stacker Pentecost’s voice comes over the comm from the ocean floor two thousand miles away.

“LOCCENT, Scunner has broken off pursuit. We are less than one hundred meters from the jump location to the Breach. What’s the problem there?”

Thus, it is at the last minute that they are told by the scientists that the Breach can only be opened with kaiju DNA.

“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?” Chuck demands.

“You have to lock up with a kaiju, then ride it into the Breach and detonate the payload!”

There is a pause from all as the implications of this sink in. Before that, they had all believed that there was a tiny chance some of the Rangers would survive. Now there was none.

*

The Rangers accept their fate with remarkable equanimity. A calm that is shattered by the arrival of the third kaiju, Slattern the first Category V, a creature that is three times the size of Striker Eureka, easily twice the mass of any previous kaiju.

In LOCCENT, Herc can hear the Rangers fighting desperately for their lives. When both kaiju converge on Striker and Striker has no hope of delivering the bomb, Pentecost does not permit Raleigh and Mako to approach.

“You know what you have to do," he says evenly.

“I hear you,” Raleigh replies. “Heading for the Breach.”

“What the hell are they doing?” Newt demands, two thousand miles away.

Herc answers in Raleigh's place. “Finishing the mission,” he announces calmly even as he swallows hard, his hand which is holding Max's leash, clenching convulsively. Max looks up at him inquiringly, his gentle eyes puzzled and confused.

“Cannons not responding! Arms offline!” Chuck shouts over the alarms going off in Striker Eureka’s Conn-Pod. “We can’t do anything!”

Pentecost speaks calmly, but his commanding tone cuts through. Everyone can hear him.

“We can clear a path for the lady,” he tells Chuck and lowers his gaze and stares at Max.

“Marshal,” Mako protests. “ _Sensei_. No...”

Pentecost looks directly up at Gipsy Danger through his Conn-Pod feed. “Mako. You can finish this. I’ll always be here. You can always find me in the Drift.”

A tearing blow from Scunner bursts Striker Eureka’s Conn-Pod open. Water flooded in and circuits start to go dark. Both kaiju stand over the fallen Jaeger, tag-teaming it, tearing and hammering it into pieces. 

The video from Striker Eureka goes out, leaving only the sound of Chuck’s voice, calm and almost flippant. “My father always said: if you have the shot, take it." His son's words cut through him like a knife. "It’s been a pleasure serving with you, sir,” Chuck says respectfully.

There is silence from LOCCENT. Everyone is looking away from Herc Hansen, unable to bear the agony and grief in the man's face.

A moment later, Stacker Pentecost detonates the nuclear payload.

*

In the LOCCENT, Strike Eureka's readouts go dark.

Through one of the Super Sikorskys’ belly cameras, they watch a dome of water rise from the ocean, pushing the fog back as the blast wave from the nuclear payload breaches the surface. Pieces of kaiju are visible in the churning base of the mushroom cloud that breaks through the mist before the Sikorsky peels away in evasive manoeuvres.

Herc kneels beside his dog, head down, mechanically scratching Max’s ears. The sorrow is almost unbearable, tightening around his throat like a fist. He remembers the face of his son the day he was born … the day he has to tell his son that his mother is dead … the day his son enters the Academy … the day his son becomes his co-pilot. 

He remembers the face of his son the day he leaves the Shatterdome to die.

*

Just when Herc thinks that his heart cannot break any further, after Gipsy Danger drops into the Breach, he hears Mako speaking robotically. “We are losing power."

She is cut off as another alarm pings and the heads-up flashes a warning.

“Mako’s oxygen line is cut!” Tendo calls out.

Herc's eyes close. After today, he will have no one left in the world.

When he sees Raleigh activating the Crisis Command Matrix, transferring Jaeger operations to a single Ranger despite risking massive neural damage, he knows why Pentecost chose to seek out this washed out Ranger when he had so many others from whom to choose. Raleigh Becket understands love and sacrifice.

*  
In the LOCCENT, data from Gipsy Danger has slowed to a trickle as it falls deeper into the Breach.

“What the hell is going on?” Herc demands.

“The trigger is offline,” Tendo tells him. “He has to do it by hand.”

“We’ve got an ejection,” Gottlieb says from another workstation.

“We what?” Tendo demands. “It must be an error. No way Raleigh Becket gets this far and then bails. I don’t believe it.”

"It's not Becket – he's ejected Mako," Herc tells them definitely, his reddened eyes staring at the console desperately. "He's planning to go down with his Jaeger." He looks at Tendo. "Can they still hear us?"

"Yes .. no … maybe. I have no idea," Tendo mutters, head in his hands, overwhelmed by defeat.

Raleigh is alone in the Conn-Pod, unsnapping himself from the control harness, releasing his boots from the platform and struggling across the floor. Outside Gipsy Danger’s windows are colours no human has ever seen. Looking at them hurts Raleigh’s head. He remembers to breathe. Gipsy Danger tumbles, banging Raleigh around the cockpit interior. The manual self-destruct switch is all the way on the other side and hard to get to. 

With considerable difficulty, he successfully reaches the switch, his eyes and mind focused on the task. Blow the reactor. Save the world.

Herc looks around and then starts speaking deliberately. "Raleigh – do what you're there to do and get the hell out of there. This is an order. I don't want any more deaths today. You're already a hero – you don't have to kill yourself to prove it. You and Mako have a shot at a life together," he says in a shaking voice. "Get out of there. Now."

Raleigh's eyes blink open, the Australian's strident voice ringing in his head. His voice is compelling and persuasive.

He feels felt the Precursors in his mind, not understanding. Through Gipsy Danger’s cranial windows, he sees the Precursors looking at him.

_:01..._

Raleigh hits the EJECT button.

*

In the LOCCENT, Hercules Hansen stands staring at the Breach graphic, with its trumpet-shaped mouths on either end of the long narrow passage in the middle. There is no signal from Gipsy Danger. Around him stand Tendo, Newt and Gottlieb and all the rest of the command techs. Nobody speaks. Even Max is looking up because all of the humans are looking up.

There is an almost unbearable silence. Then the electromagnetic signature of the Breach changes. At first it looks as though another kaiju is coming through and annihilation is imminent. The intensification pattern looks like that... but it grows until the energy discharge outstrips any kaiju passage by a factor of a thousand.

Just as quickly, the signature dwindles away to nothing. On the display, the physical structure of the Breach disintegrates, swirling away into random sparks.

“The Breach has collapsed!” an officer shouts.

The LOCCENT erupts in cheers, and tears of exhausted relief. Newt and Gottlieb embrace, Gottlieb even consenting to a high-five. The ranks of techs behind them jump and shout. No one had really thought it would be possible to complete this mission – but they have.

Herc cuts through it all. “The pods,” he said. “Do we have the pods?”

Tendo looks back at the feed from Gipsy Danger’s subsystems.

“One,” he says. “Just emerging. Full oxygen, occupant vital signs strong and stable...” He pauses, waiting, then admitting, “No sign of the second one.”

“Send the choppers,” Herc orders.

*

The sky is high and blue and visibility is unlimited over the water. Super Sikorskys sweep in a search pattern over a grid centred on the spot directly above the Breach. One of them heels over as its pilot spots an escape pod breaking the surface. It is not much bigger than an ornate coffin, a steel-and-polycarbonate shell containing a Jaeger pilot and a small amount of oxygen, ringed with floats that drive it to the surface... or, in case of an aerial release, act as shock absorption when the pod falls to earth.

The pod rolls over and settles in the waves, green tracing dye spreading in an irregular patch around it. Its hatch pops open and a plume of vapour escapes as the pressurised dry air inside meets the humid Pacific atmosphere.

Breathing deeply of the fresh air, Mako hoists herself up onto the top of the pod, rocking with the motion of the waves caused by the pod’s surfacing. She blinks in the sunlight and looks around, scanning the horizon in all directions in search of her co-pilot.

Her heart beats loudly when she realises that only her pod is at the surface.

One of the Sikorskys closes on her, approaching low and fast. She looks up at it, then resumes her search of the still seas around her. There is an eerie calm. No wind, no waves, the only sound the small slap of the water on the pod’s hull and the approaching beat of helicopter rotors.

Then she sees the second pod breach and roll over and spill its own canister of dye.

A cry of fear escapes Mako's lips and she dives into the water, swimming toward the second pod. To her horror, it is scorched and dented. Under the beat of the approaching Sikorskys she reaches the pod and hauls herself up over its floats to the hatch, which ominously, have not opened automatically. There are manual latches on the outside and she snaps them open one by one with fingers that tremble with cold and apprehension, flinging the hatch open and leaning over to look inside.

Raleigh lies inside, silent and still – his skin chalky white.

"I don't think he's breathing," Mako's voice says and Herc's face tightens as he stands in the LOCCENT watching the screen.

Mako leans in and down, shaking Raleigh, slapping his face. He still does not move. Mako pulls him upright and hugs him to her body, remembering how he had cradled her in the terrible aftermath of their first Drift together.

“No,” she murmurs. “No, don’t go.”

It doesn't seem possible or right that they should have destroyed the Breach and made it all the way back to the surface. How is it possible for them to come so far just to have Raleigh die? She has already lost so much … her family, her _sensei_ and now her co-pilot.

 _You can't go. Not when we have completed the hard part_ , Mako thinks. _No_. Herc's voice is comforting in her earpiece. "Don't panic yet, Mako – he's been through a lot."

Mako holds Raleigh tighter, tears stinging her eyes.

Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, Raleigh coughs and opens his eyes. “You were squeezing me too hard,” he tells her softly, the smile in his eyes matching the smile curving his mouth. "I couldn't breathe."

Mako laughs, a short bark of joy and relief. They hold each other tightly, each feeling the other release all the desperation and fear and loss they have felt during the day just past. Can it really have only been a day? Raleigh bumps his forehead against hers. "We're alive," he whispers.

Herc watches as Raleigh climbs out on top of the pod. One of the helicopters is circling around the two Rangers, lowering an emergency ladder with a medic dangling on the bottom rung. Around them, a formation of Super Sikorskys hovers, none of their pilots wanting to miss out on the moment when the pilots of Gipsy Danger, disgraced and then redeemed, returned to the sunlit world after destroying the Breach and keeping the kaiju and the Precursors trapped in their world – for now.

It was a sunny day. The world is not going to end. At least not today.

*

In the LOCCENT, Tendo Choi turns to Herc.

“Sir?”

All eyes turn to Hercules Hansen. The man who has lost so much is now the man in charge.

Herc leans toward the desktop comm and speaks in his deep, measured voice. “This is Marshall Hercules Hansen. Stop the clock.”

In the Shatterdome, empty of Jaegers, the great flip clock rattles over to zero and then stops.

*

The heroes are brought back to the Shatterdome and carried to the infirmary amidst cheers of jubilation and joy.

There is a large audience as the pair are examined for radiation poisoning, any signs of Kaiju Blue and also any ill-effects of the oxygen deprivation. 

Herc keeps the press at bay. The world's media is converging on the Shatterdome, demanding answers, demanding access to the photogenic heroes who are responsible for saving the world from annihilation.

There is no time for Herc to grieve. He is too busy shouldering the responsibilities that he has inherited from Pentecost. He deploys search and salvage teams above the area near where the Breach used to be. He gives instructions regarding the welfare of his two Rangers. He gives instructions about the security lockdown at the Shatterdome. 

Most importantly, Herc sequesters his two scientists and asks them to record every single memory they have of their Drift experience. 

"If you had access to their minds and memories, then they've also had access to what you know. Those ugly bastards are going to be back and I want to make sure that we're ready when they return," he tells them grimly. Newton and Gottlieb nod, pale-faced and panicked at the enormity of the situation. The Precursors have had access to their collective minds … The implications of this are terrifying.

Herc authorises press releases, schedules meetings with United Nations representatives and agrees to press conferences. He gives orders for memorial services, debriefing sessions and preparation for the Second Jaeger Programme. In between his duties, he buries his head in his hands and thinks of his son with the red hair who will no longer defy and challenge him. He knows he will miss Chuck for the rest of his life and feel guilt that Chuck went to his watery grave without his rightful co-pilot by his side.

Late that night, he stands in the doorway of the infirmary silently for an endless moment. Raleigh has disobeyed medical instructions and has left his own bed, curling up in Mako's bed alongside her, their limbs tangled and intimate, his head on her shoulder.

Herc stares at Mako's pale face, thankful that she is alive even though she lies in the arms of another man, a man who has risked everything for her and who has more than earned the right to call her his.

A muscle moves in Herc's jaw. Mako Mori, despite her soft and sweet yielding body has never belonged to him. Even though he has kissed every inch of her body and she his, she has never been his to lose. He wonders why it feels as though he has lost everything.

With a final glance over his shoulder, Herc Hansen leaves the infirmary to return to his cold and solitary room, unaware that Mako and Raleigh have awoken and watch as he walks away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is finished but I am still deciding about whether to scribble a little book end for the story.
> 
> Do I leave it to end all tragic with Herc being alone? Or do I write something more so that Mako ends up with both!? I haven't decided yet!! Hope you enjoyed the story :)
> 
> ETA: For those unhappy with the 'sad' ending, you can try ["Drift Partners"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/942862) which is a different story, but does have a happier Herc ;)


End file.
